Data Science Workshop Series

Data Science Workshop Series brings together researchers, academics and students from across the University to showcase how Data Science can support our strategic goals.

DS4 Workshop Series

The 'Data Science for ...' series of workshops aims to fulfill our commitment to raise Data Science awareness and foster relevant collaborations addressing pressing societal challenges. The one day workshops are planned around the central theme of Data Science in the service of the University's strategy. In each edition we set one of the strategic goals of the University as a focus area, and invite researchers, academics, and students from across the University to showcase their work and ideas on the topic to raise awareness and generate conversations and collaborations.

Upcoming workshops

Data Science for Climate and Environment

Our next workshop in the series will be on Data Science for Climate and Environment. The event will take place on the 30th of March 2026 at the Bayes Centre. Watch this space!

TimePresenterTitle
9:00Reception/Networking coffee
9:30Sohan SethWelcome

                                                                        Short talks

9:40Reza Mohammadi AsiyabiProcess Guided-Concept Bottleneck Models (PG-CBM) for above ground biomass estimation
9:50Glenna NightingaleFast-food environments and obesity
10:00Philine BommerDe-risking climate interventions using AI
10:15Annie Yang & Amy RussellUniversity Forest and Peatland Programme – monitoring and data
10:25Mark BronsvoortAnimal Health as a mitigation strategy for emission intensity in LMIC settings
10:35Karthik MohanVisual poluttion
10:45
                                                                          Coffee Break
11:00Juli Huang(In)visibility in national circular economy metrics
11:05Nicholle BellTBD
11:10Devanjan BhattacharyaEnvironmental degradation monitoring in the Ukraine–Russia War
11:20Chris BanksEffects of land policy on disease transmission
11:30Jean Trésor HaragakizaHealth, agri-food systems & climate change
11:40Ewelina Rydzewska-FazekasClimate effects on dengue incidence in Brazil
11:50Chris WoodTeaching Environmental Scientists how to escape from Excel
12:00
                                                                                    Lunch
13:00Matjaz VidmarArts, Humanities and Social Science Experiments in Data with/for SDGs
13:10Oisin Mac AodhaAI for Biodiversity Monitoring
13:20Clare LlewellynMonitoring mental health and psychosocial wellbeing using big data sources
13:30Alixandra PrybylaThe Role of Bioacoustics in British Bee Conservation

                                                                        Pitch session

13:40Amer SyedReusable Li-ion battery packs
13:42Jasmeen KanwalData Education in Schools
13:44Nick PolydoridesRemote sensing of gas dispersion
13:46Jeff WrightSupporting Climate, Environmental and Net Zero Innovation
13:48Tim WildingPCA workflow for climate drivers of respiratory infections
13:50Samuel FieldingTBD
13:52Jorge GaeteClosing

 

Previous editions of the workshop

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and subsequent treaties posit the fundamental rights of every human, such as the right to liberty, equality, and justice, as well as education, health, and healthy environment. Advancing the upholding of these rights globally is vital, and the University recognises this issue in its strategic charter. The workshop aims to connect researchers working on or interested in Human Rights, and our hope is to facilitate collaboration and exchange of knowledge, as well as promote Data Science tools and practices in this area.

The event took place on the 17th of March 2025 at Bayes Centre.

Agenda

TimePresenterTitle
9:30 AMTea / Coffee 
10:10 AM

Daga Panas

Welcome

10:15 AM

Kay Tisdall

Children’s Human Right Indicators

10:23 AM

Matjaz Vidmar

Reflections on Trans(Planetary) Futures

10:36 AM

Jasmeen Kanwal

Upholding Children’s Rights with Data and AI Education in Schools

10:44 AM

Karthik Mohan

Child Poverty: Access to Services – Travel Time Maps for the African continent

10:57 AM

Donald Scobbie

Trusted Research Environments – secure computing for working safely with sensitive data

 

11:05 AM

Ayça Atabey

TBC

11:13 AMRhoda JiangTBC
11:21 AM

Louise Donnison

TBC

11:25 AM

Kirsteen Shields

TBC

11:30 AMTea / Coffee / Pastries 
11:50 AM

Kirsty Pringle

Air Quality Stripes – visualising trends in air quality to highlight global inequalities

 

11:58 AM

Marisa Wilson

Indigenous Data Sovereignty ESRC project (brief overview)

12:06 PMDaga PanasIRIS
12:14 PM

Sohan Seth

Data-driven correction of Observed Wasting Prevalence for Seasonal Variation

12:27 PM

Samer Abdelnour

Calculating Military / War Emissions

 

12:35 PM

Sanja Badanjak

Using NLP and semantic similarity models to better understand how peace agreements support human rights provision in transition from armed conflict

 

12:49 PMPhilipp BarthelmeCombining historical records and declassified U.S. spy satellite imagery to assess the long-term impacts of the Vietnam War
13:00 PMLunch 

Mental health refers to an individual's capacity to feel, think, and act in ways to achieve a better quality of life while respecting personal, social, and cultural boundaries [Wikipedia]. In recent years poor mental health has become a global concern, with about 970 million people worldwide suffering from a mental disorder in 2019, most commonly anxiety and depression. Understanding the phenomenon and tackling the challenge of the globally worsening wellbeing is a priority. It is a complex problem since mental health is influenced by a range of biological, demographic and environmental factors, and therefore, we hope to bring together students and researchers from across a range of disciplines, to explore the application and applicability of Data Science in this area.

This workshop took place on Monday the 11th of March 2024 in the Bayes Centre.

TimePresenterTitle
9:15Sohan SethWelcome
9:30Karthik MohanModeling mental health trajectories during the COVID-19 pandemic using the Understanding Society data
9:45Emma GaleThe role of mental well-being in the development of poor sleep and obesity in adolescents
10:00Jasmin WertzImproving the early identification of mental health problems using routinely collected school data
10:15Peggy SeriesThe emerging field of Computational Psychiatry
10:30- - -Coffee break
11:00Kelly FleetwoodUsing electronic health records to understand relationships between mental and physical health
11:15Pippa ThomsonUsing Omics to understand environmental risk factors for depression
11:30Suryansh ManochaCausality Methods for Dementia Risk Inference
11:45- - -Pitch Session
 Koraima Sotomayor EnriquezMentalization and emotion regulation in the daily life of young people
 Katie MarwickDeep phenotyping of women with bipolar disorder approaching the menopause
 Lisa ScholinDiseases of despair and Emergency Services –Describing presentations, EStimating risk and Predictors, Analysing key Intervention points, and making Recommendations for commissioning (DESPAIR)
 Jasmeen KanwalData Education in Schools
 Lysimachos ZografosPitch support by EI/Wellcome iTPA team
12:00---Lunch
13:00Claire Anne BangaLeveraging ML/AI to Tackle Mental Health & Drug Overdoses
13:15Robin FlaigThe UK Longitudinal Linkage Collaboration: a trusted research environment for the longitudinal research community
13:30Clare LlewellynMonitoring mental health and psychosocial wellbeing using big data sources
13:45---Short Talks
 Kasia BanasConsidering wellbeing in data science teaching
 Sohan SethPollution, Mental Health, Remote Sensing, AI
13:55Daga PanasWrap up

 


The workshop aims to bring together researchers and students from a range of disciplines and will focus on the application and applicability of Data Science tools and practices in the pursuit of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDGs are 17 interrelated objectives formulated by the United Nations in 2015 to shape a sustainable future for the planet and the people. Our hope is to facilitate fruitful discussions among the academic community and aid in further development of cross-disciplinary research advancing this fundamentally important agenda by sharing data, methods and knowledge.

The event was hosted on 06.03.2023 at the Informatics Forum.

TimePresentationTitle
9:00 AM              Sohan SethIntroduction
9:15 AMJamie CrossIntroducing the Edinburgh Earth Initiative
9:25 AM                  Ram RamamoorthyAI for next-generation and sustainable mobility
9:35 AMDiego OyarzunIntroducing The Science for Sustainability Hub
9:45 AM         Maximilian ParzenAI and digital twins for advancing net-zero energy system planning
9:55 AM            Chris BanksBoosted Regression for augmenting Bovine Tuberculosis test sensitivity
10:05 AM        Break
10:40 AM           Daga PanasData Science Unit for Science, Health, People and Environment
10:50 AM        Fraser MacdonaldData for Good through Global Collaboration
11:00 AM            Brian SellarCapturing data from high-energy coastal environments for reliable and sustainable offshore renewable energy production
11:10 AM          Joe KennedyModelling the health impacts of reducing meat consumption in the United States
11:20 AM           Desen KirliData and Digitalisation for Net Zero
11:30 AM      DavidRushFires in informal settlements - my data needs
11:35 AM         Jasmeen KanwalData Education in Schools
11:40 AM       John MorrisseyAI Application in the Particulate Products Manufacturing Industry
11:45 AM         Thomas ReynoldsResilience of Traditional Buildings in Madagascar to Cyclone Winds
11:50 AM    Eleojo AbubakarSocioeconomic determinants of inequality in subjective well-being in neighbourhoods and cities in Africa
 
12:00 PM       Lunch Break
1:00 PM          Karthik MohanSatellite Images 4 Sustainable Development
1:10 PM           Matjaz VidmarSustainability in Open Engineering Practice
1:20 PM          Sergio Lopez DubonData-driven methods on Tidal Blade testing
1:25 PM           Xue LiDetecting false claims about climate change: an approach based on knowledge graph
1:40 PM          Breakout Session 
2:40 PMWrap up 

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